Do You Love Me? the catch of fish, the restoration of Peter, and the close of the Gospel
John 21 is the epilogue. By the Sea of Galilee the risen Lord gives a net-bursting catch and breakfast on the shore; then, at a charcoal fire, he restores Peter with a threefold "Do you love me?" answering the threefold denial, recommissions him to "feed my sheep," and calls him to follow even unto death. The Gospel closes with the witness of the disciple who wrote it.
Overview of John 21
21:1–14: after a fruitless night of fishing, the disciples obey the unrecognized Lord's word — "cast on the right side" — and haul in 153 large fish without the net tearing. The beloved disciple recognizes him ("It is the Lord"); Peter plunges to shore, where Jesus has prepared a charcoal fire and breakfast — the risen Lord still providing for his own. 21:15–25: at that fire Jesus restores Peter with three questions matching his three denials, each answered with a charge to shepherd Christ's flock; foretells the death by which Peter will glorify God; and calls him simply to "follow me." When Peter asks about the beloved disciple, Jesus redirects him — and the evangelist corrects a rumor, attests his own eyewitness authorship, and closes with the world-filling greatness of all that Jesus did.
With this chapter the verse-by-verse exegesis of the whole Gospel of John (chapters 1–21) is complete.
Passage Units
Both passages of John 21 are available.